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Do I need a Web site?
A very good question. Not every business needs a Web
site.
For example; you're a very busy owner of a handyman
business that's fully booked for the next three to six months. Your
business grows by word-of-mouth. You're not really interested in
hiring employees and growing into a multi-person company. You just
want enough work to earn a good living. If there ever was a business
that did not need a Web site, this is it.
However ....
There's no question that a Web site is more mission
critical for some businesses than others. Companies trying to reach
customers in different locations or who have products that can be
shipped to customers far away obviously need to have an online presence.
Local businesses can also benefit from a Web site that shows their
location, lists their services or offers special promotions. Having
a Web site today is another form of advertising.
One of the long-term significant changes at the turn
of this millennium is the rapid expansion of a phenomenon called
the "New Economy". We prefer to call it the Innovation
Economy, because at the core of the new wealth being created is
the rapid acceleration of change through innovation. Customers today
research products before buying them and they do so on the web,
the ever-expanding knowledge resource that lies at the core of producing
new wealth.
In short, if you want more customers, you should be
online, regardless of your industry.
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How much does a Web site cost?
A very good question, indeed. To quote an old adage;
"The best costs more to make: We'd rather explain the quality
than apologize for it's absence".
A Web site no longer needs to be expensive, despite
what you may have heard. The expensive sites are the larger ones
that are selling hundreds of items online. Not everyone sells online,
actually, very few do. Most companies only want an online presence
to showcase their products, services and location. With this in
mind, a simple Web site can cost as little as a few hundred dollars
(not including hosting or domain names) using templates. Each site
we build is custom designed. Although we can offer you a site designed
from a template, you wouldn't be distinguished as being unique.
Templates are generally used because they are cheaper and get the
job done quickly. Remember though, they could also be used by hundreds
of different companies. Our goal is to create a unique and "Dynamic
Online Presence" for our customers, one that stands out from
the rest. Your site will be one-of-a-kind. Rest assured, when we
create your unique site, it's yours. We don't use that template
for anyone else. Many images we use are created, or taken from a
large library of royalty free images we own, rather than "leeched"
from the web. We spend more time in optimizing
your supplied images to create smaller file sizes compared to just
"resizing". We esnure your site can be viewed by all the
major browsers (Not everyone has Internet Explorer), as code is
interpreted differently between them. Therefore, on average a 5
page site created by Digital Deviance runs in the neighborhood of
$650 plus hosting and domain names. You can budget about $100 for
each additional page. Generally a 50% deposit is required before
beginning any design project. Once your site is paid in full we
then burn it to disk and provide it to you upon request. On a budget?
No worries, Digital Deviance can work out a monthly payment schedule.
Of course, we're also there to provide you those updates that will
be needed down the road. We're not only here to develop sites, but
to maintain them too!
Since every web site has different requirements we
suggest contacting us for a free quote on a development focused
more towards your needs. Just e-mail us with as much information
as possible at
and we will contact you with a free quote. You are under no obligation
whatsoever.
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Are there any other costs?
Yes! Don't be fooled into thinking that once you've
purchased a web site that that will be it. You have domain name,
hosting and maintenance charges that apply. Digital Deviance charges
$23.95 per year for .com domain names and $39.95 for .ca domain
names (providing we're hosting your site). This includes all administration
fees. We take care of it so you don't have to. Hosting will run
you from $13.95 per month ($167.40 per year, see our hosting
page). Maintenance plans start as low as $69.95 per month (if you
choose this option). This option provides you unlimited updates
and maintenance for your site not including complete overhauls (see
below). A minimum one year contract is required for the maintenance
agreement.
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When do I show up in Search Engines?
By having a site created by Digital Deviance, we submit
your site to the most common search engines. Grant it, you can buy
your way to the first page, but this is expensive and we do not
suggest this option. We take advantage of proper and efficient "meta
tag" usage within your code so these search engines will find
you on a regular basis. This does take time. To get on that desired
first page can take up to six months, however, we've also had sites
show up within a couple of weeks. Remember, advertise your site
on business cards, print ads, word-of-mouth etc. and get visitors
hitting your site as much as possible. You can also request suppliers
or business associates to link to your site. We can provide them
with a small graphic logo of your site along with the appropriate
URL and instructions on how to place it within their site. The more
hits you get, the faster you'll move up on the search engine rankings.
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Now that I have a Web site, what next?
Advertise! Advertise! Advertise! Your Web site is another
form of advertising and to make it as effective as the rest of your
marketing strategy, this is a must. So many times we've come across
sites that have been on the internet for months, even years and
are dozens of pages in on search engine rankings. Utilize the power
of the web and get your site out there. Put it on your business
cards, in print ads, on the radio, T. V., yellow pages, any form
of advertising that your currently using and let everyone know that
you're on the web. Keep it current. Updating your site on a regular
basis brings visitors back to see what's new. Only then will your
web presence be noticeable.
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I already have a domain name, what next?
Not a problem. All we require is the access information
to your domain name and we can then properly point your domain name
to your new site.
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Can I have more than one domain name?
Yes! You can have as many as you desire. If you're
hosting through Digital Deviance, we can point all names to your
main domain name. For example, you own the name www.mycompany.com,
along with www.myothercompany.com and any other name you have. Since
your main domain name is www.mycompany.com, we can point all other
names to that one, meaning that if a client types in www.myothercompany.com,
or whatever other name you have, then your first domain name will
propagate in the address bar.
For example: www.loadhog.ca also owns the domain name
www.loadhog.us. When someone types in www.loadhog.us, the site will
propagate as if it were its own domain.
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I don't have time to monitor or update my site?
At Digital Deviance we understand how busy you can
get and may not have time to keep your site updated or maintained.
This is why we offer maintenance agreements, so
you don't have to worry about it. Do what you do best, and let us
do what we do best.
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What is image optimization?
Optimizing your web graphics is essential for keeping
your visitors. If your page takes too long to load, people simply
leave your site before it is loaded! Image optimization is when
you edit an image (.jpg, .jpeg, .gif or .png) and reduce its size
without causing any loss of image quality. Remember, web resolution
(72-96 dpi) is much smaller than print resolution (150-600 dpi).
One of the most important rules for effective web
site development is to ensure the site or page loads fast. Graphics
do play an important role in today's web sites. However, too many
times we've seen sites where owners themselves, or in some cases,
other developers, resize a large image within their HTML editor
to a smaller size to fit on their web site. If you're using Word
or Front Page, it's easy to take larger images and use the resize
command to shrink it's size to fit. The only problem with this is
that the file size remains the same, even though it's smaller it
still results in a slow loading page. Images are the main cause
for slow loading web sites. Long loading times are annoying to your
visitors and annoyed visitors are not likely to turn into buying
customers! At Digital Deviance, we design all our pages to the lowest
common denominator, meaning we respect the fact that many people
still use dial-up connections to access the web and therefore optimize
your images so your page loads faster. A faster loading webpage
makes for a happy visitor, especially those on dial-up.
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How do I go about ordering a Web site?
You can contact us by e-mail at
or directly from our contact page. Be
assured we will never give, lease or sell your personal information.
Period! We value your privacy.
Before we begin building your Web site, we sit down
with you to determine exactly what you're attempting to accomplish
and to gain insight on how we can provide you your online presence.
Once we've come to an agreement, Digital Deviance will draw up a
contract and the process begins. To start a project we require a
50% down payment. We will require from you any logo's (unless we're
designing them), corporate images and content you would want included.
We will show your new web site online before it is published for
public viewing. You may reject the design and we will supply another.
You may not go back to a design you have rejected. If the second
design is rejected we will refund 75% of your deposit (25% if major
scripting or programming is involved) and wish you luck in your
venture.
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Can I update or make changes myself?
We do not recommend that our clients make changes themselves.
The reason is that the code for displaying pages is delicate, and
the mistake is often made where the client may edit their webpage
into something like "Word" or worse, "Front Page"
and those programs are notorious at destroying perfectly good pages,
i.e., throwing the formatting off and ruining the layout of the
content.
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Do you offer Maintenance agreements?
Yes! A Maintenance Agreement is for the customer who
has ongoing changes on a regular basis. The benefit of the Maintenance
Agreement is that it's based on a flat monthly rate (Compared to
a $50.00 per hour minimum) allowing a business to set up a budget
and it provides peice-of-mind in knowing we're just a phone call
or email away should you require any updates or assistance with
your site. Maintenance plans start as low as $69.95 per month for
sites originally built by Digital Deviance, and as part of that
Agreement; a 'use it or lose it' arrangement exists. A Maintenance
Agreement can be put in place at any point during the development
phase of the website, or afterwards. The agreement includes unlimited
updates per month, placement of images, inclusion of new email addresses,
removal of old ones, optimizing supplied images, editing text and
placing supplied PDF (or equivalent) files to the server. It does
not include full makeovers; Meaning that we will not deviate from
the current structure, theme or look of the site. It also does not
include annual hosting costs, domain
name renewals or the addition of time consuming Dynamic content,
such as Flash, scripting, programming et al. We ask that you contact
us to obtain this pricing. Our Maintenance Agreements are based
on 1 year contracts.
Note: If the client or an agent other than Digital
Deviance Design Group attempts updating the client's pages, time
to repair these webpages or changes will be assessed at the hourly
rate, and is not included as part of the maintenance agreement.
Should I post prices on my new website?
Only if your actually selling something online. Other
than that, we really don't recommend you doing so. Why? so as not
to have your site be used as a "price seller" for your
competitors. If you know your prices are competitive, then it's
our job to provide just enough information to get your visitor interested
enough to contact you. It's then your job to sell that customer.
Should you have any other questions, please feel free
to contact us
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